Liquor store opens as legal hassles end

MIDDLETOWN -- After months of fending off legal challenges, the owner the North End Package Store has moved down the block and converted the old Master Industrial Supply building into some classy digs.

MATTHEW HIGBEE

Published
12:00 am EDT, Saturday, September 27, 2003

He's given the place a classy name too: Forest City Wine and Spirits.

The shiny blond hardwood floors, an autumnal display of pumpkins and hay bales in the windows, and a nearly completed climate-controlled wine pantry, all suggest that proprietor John Bagley is on the cusp of achieving his dream of running an upscale store. All he's got to do now is settle that pending lawsuit with his old landlord.

"It's time to stop," he said. "It's time for us to all get along."

Frank Cornelio, Bagley's former landlord, along with four other organizations upset over the relocation for different reasons, appealed the planning and zoning commission's decision to allow Bagley to move about 300 feet down the block. They also challenged, and lost, Bagley's approval from the state Liquor Control Commission. And Bagley filed a counter suit against Cornelio for unfair trade practices.

Now that Bagley has moved in and hung an open sign on the 606 Main St. storefront, it appears that his plea for a truce has been heard.

While he declined to comment on the substance of the pending litigation, Bagley's attorney, Joseph E. Milardo, said the parties were close to reaching an agreement. Bagley also said that he and Cornelio were on better terms.

The attorney for Cornelio et al., Jennifer Bernazani, of Middletown, did not return a call requesting comment.

The legal wrangle began in March, soon after the Planning and Zoning Commission approved Bagley's request to move his liquor store into the long vacant Master Industrial Supply building. Because the relocation put him within 1,250 feet of Captiol Liquor, Bagley needed the commission to waive the city rule that required 1,500 feet between package stores on Main Street. Anything less requires the applicant to prove a "hardship"

Bagley's particular hardship, he said, was that Cornelio refused to renew his lease and wanted to sell the building to a competitor liquor store. The commission agreed, and approved his waiver in February.

One month later, Cornelio appealed the decision in Middlesex Superior Court. He was joined by the Community Health Center, the North End Action Team, and two developers with a stake in a $10 million housing project that is promised to revitalize the neighborhood, one of the poorest in the city.

These additional parties had their own reasons for objecting to Bagley's new store. According to the complaint filed by the health center, which provides services across the street, the store would cause an "increased potential for loitering and harassment of children and staff involved in activities."

NEAT organizer Lydia Brewster said she had hoped a different kind of business would go into the building because it sits around the corner from the future home of the Green Street Arts Center, a day school that plans to offer creative programs for kids.

"It's such a jewel of a building It provided so many options for the neighborhood," Brewster said Friday. "We felt it was a key piece of real estate. Given that the Green Street center around corner is for kids, given that it's a pedestrian neighborhood with low income people who have a lot of problems with alcohol abuse, we didn't think it was appropriate."

Bagley says that he his action would to bring the neighborhood up. He was closing the dark and cramped North End Package Store and opening an airy and brightly-lit shop offering a wide selections of wines.

"We wanted a liquor store for the whole city. That's why we got away from the name North End," he says.

Bagley said he has tripled his wine selection and doubled his stock of micro-brewed and imported beers. But the biggest improvement over the old store, he says, is its atmosphere. That was evident on Friday, when many long-time customers complemented him on his new space.

"This is the deluxe palace right here," said city resident Mike Burrill.

Since Bagley won the appeal of his state liquor permit this summer, he began renovating his new building. He closed his old store on Sept. 18 and moved his inventory over this week.

Now that Forest City Wine and Spirits is open for business, Brewster said that NEAT was no longer vigorously pressing its objections, and hoped to work together with Bagley.

"We wish Mr. Bagley great good luck in his new venture," she said.

For Bagley, he said he was happy that his differences with Brewster, Cornelio, and others were being resolved.

"I don't want to fight anybody I just want to make a living. I made a commitment to Middletown and I'm in it for the long haul," he said.